Bogus Craigslist Ads Lured Men To Ohio To Be Killed

[Hellsbells]

STOW, OH (WOIO) -
A 16-year-old high school student arrested in connection with a Craigslist killing has been charged with one count of attempted murder and one count of complicity to attempted murder.


Brogan Rafferty is a student at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, and remains in police custody.

A 52-year-old man is also in police custody, but hasn't been charged in the crime. He is in jail on prostitution charges.


This, after a Florida job seeker turned up dead and a South Carolina man was shot.

The Noble County Sheriff's Department tells 19 Action News that they received a call on November 6th from a resident that a man had been shot. Officials responded to scene and interviewed the shooting victim who said he was shot while responding to a job advertisement on Craigslist.

The man was shot in the right arm. He told police that the advertisement was a job offer for a male to care for cattle on a 688 acre property. The victim, whom police will not identify, says he met up with Rafferty and another man, in Marietta, OH and followed them to Caldwell, OH where he parked his car and rode along with the two suspects to Don Warner Road in Stock Township.


The victim was told the road was closed due to a landslide and that they needed to walk a distance through a heavily wooded area. The victim and one of the men exited the vehicle and began walking when the victim heard what he thought was a gun being cocked. He turned and found a gun pointed at his head.

The victim deflected the gun and ran. As he was running from the gunman, he was shot in the arm. The gunman continued to shoot as the victim ran. The victim successfully hid in the woods for the next seven hours before making his way to a house to get help

The next report in connection with the Craigslist ad happened on November 11th when the Noble County Sheriff's Office received information from a woman in Boston, MA that her twin brother from Florida was missing. The report was that the woman's brother had answered an AD from Craigslist and felt very sure it was the same listing that the first victim had answered. The man was last scene on Oct. 22nd in Parkersburg, WV.

A missing persons report was filed at that time.

Armed with the new information, the Noble County Sheriff's Dept. returned to the scene at Don Warner Road and discovered what appeared to be a hand dug shallow grave. The grave was empty however, it did give credibility to the theory that the gunman had planned to kill and bury their first victim but failed, and it that was possible that there could be a second victim.

Members of the Noble County Sheriff's Department, FBI and BCI Specialist Agents along with cadaver sniffing dogs returned to the crime scene on Don Warner Road on Monday, Nov. 14th. Once on scene, the body of a white male was found buried in a shallow grave. The grave site was in close proximity to the location where the first victim had been shot.

http://www.woio.com/story/16069758/t...igslist-murder


Florida Man Murdered in Ohio in Alleged Craigslist Job Scam, Two Arrested

Authorities took two suspects into custody on Wednesday but would not release their names. ABC News' Columbus affiliate WSYX identified the men as 16-year-old Brogan Rafferty and 52-year-old Richard Beasley.

Beasley's mother, Carol Beasley, 70, told ABCNews.com that she was shocked when she picked up her newspaper this morning and read about the murder. Though the paper did not specifically name her son, it identified a 52-year-old man from Noble County who was arrested Wednesday, just like her son was.

"In my wildest dreams, I just couldn't imagine him harming someone," Beasley said. "I never imagined he would do the things he did."

She knew her son had been arrested Wednesday morning as he walked down the street but believed it was related to failure to appear in court for two previous charges — aggravated trafficking in drugs and compelling prostitution.

"Although he did a lot of types of things, it seems that he worked with people on the border — drug addicts, street people — I just don't know if he crossed over the line or what happened," Beasley said. "It absolutely blew my mind when I read that this morning."

When asked about Brogan Rafferty, Beasley said that she has known him since he was 8 years old, since they go to the same church. Beasley called Brogan a "really nice kid" and said he struggled a bit in school and with his parent's divorce.

"They were friends," Beasley said. "Richard tried to mentor him, get him into history."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-man...ry?id=14984467

Richard J. Beasley

[GGsMum]

Although he did a lot of types of things, it seems that he worked with people on the border — drug addicts, street people — I just don't know if he crossed over the line or what happened," Beasley said.

This cracks me up. Yeah, I knew my son was a prostitute, he was a drug dealer and hung out with young boys, but shit, I never thought he'd ever hurt anyone. What the hell lady??

Craigslist is scary - I don't go on there for anything. I've had people try to scam me before and friends too....people have been murdered many times from meeting up with complete strangers.....it's too bad. Seems like these folks were just trying earn an honest buck to find some work and they end up getting a gun pointed at their head.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

This is one bizarre case. It reminds me of cases from long long ago - not some modern day thing. Luring guys just to kill them?

And the kid's Facebook looks total normal for a high schooler.

[AngelFire]

This is creepy and totally sad. Those men aswered that ad because they needed work, and what they found was death and injuries.

[Spahnranch]

yeah like Dakota V said, the kids FB looks totally benign and average.

The older dudes eyebrows and complete lack of chin on the other hand...that situation is out of control right there.

[Hellsbells]

Craigslist suspects planned to steal identities

AKRON -- Richard Beasley's desire to stay out of prison prompted a deadly scheme to kill others and assume their identities, sources tell Channel 3 Akron Bureau Chief Eric Mansfield.

As a career criminal, the 52-year-old Akron man was likely facing hard time on new charges of drug trafficking and promoting prostitution, sources said, so he'd been on the run for months to include changing his hair color to maintain his disguise.

Beasley is a suspect in the murder of one man and the shooting of another in Noble County after the men answered bogus ads Beasley placed on craigslist.com.

A source close to the investigation tells Mansfield that surveillance photos showed Beasley meeting with at least one of the victims at a restaurant in Marietta, Ohio, prior to driving to a wooded area of Noble County where the alleged killing took place.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/state/artic...eal-identities

Craigslist Ad Murder: Dad Says Teen Was Manipulated

STOW, Ohio— The father of a local teen charged in a southern Ohio murder scheme involving a Craigslist ad said his son was manipulated.

He also explains the relationship between his son and a man who is also behind bars.

Brogan Rafferty, 16, of Stow, is charged with attempted murder and complicity to attempted murder.

"I can't believe this has happened. It's like somebody just dropped a bomb on my life," said the teen's father, Michael Rafferty.

He said his son is known as a good kid.

"About how mild-mannered he was and how polite and how much of a gentleman," he said.

But investigators in southern Ohio's Noble County arrested the Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior on Wednesday, along with Beasley.

Investigators said two men were lured to a farm by a Craigslist ad offering a job taking care of cattle.

They believe robbery was the motive.

One man from South Carolina was shot Nov. 6, but escaped.

The body of a man from Florida was found buried in a shallow grave. His brother tells Fox 8 he had spoken to Beasley about the job.

"He said he had several siblings and that the siblings were the ones who owned the farm and they still camped there and did this, that there, but they weren't able to take care of the farm," said the brother in a telephone interview.

"He probably lied to Brogan and told him he was going down there for one thing and then once he popped a cap in that guy or something, he probably scared the hell out of him," said Rafferty.

Rafferty said his family has known and trusted Beasley for more than 20 years.

Brogan's parents said Beasley became a mentor to Brogan, often taking him to church and on outings to feed the homeless.

"As Brogan got, like, to be a teenager, not so often, but him and Rich had a friendship," said Rafferty.

"This man corrupted my son this way, and I really would like to think that he doesn't have this in him, that he was just in a bad spot and fooled by this guy and something happened and he was in over his head and just didn't feel he could turn back."

http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-craigsl...,2043590.story



Private Myspace picture

[Hellsbells]

And the kid's Facebook looks total normal for a high schooler

Facebook profile was not him , took it down changed picture

[JGo555]

Bagsley looks like a pug dog's abortion but hairier.

WTF is a teenager doing hanging out with a drug dealer/manslut????

[badfish76]

Bagsley looks like a pug dog's abortion but hairier.

WTF is a teenager doing hanging out with a drug dealer/manslut????

I was kinda wondering if there wasn't some molestation and manipulation going on.

[TBrooks]

I have known Brogan Rafferty and his family for many years. I watched him grow into a wonderful young man. He is not capable of doing the horrific crimes with which he has been charged. That man, Beasley, was supposed to be his "Church" mentor, he manipulated an innocent young man into this, or is blaming this young man, for something in which he had no part of...except physically being on the property. Brogan is a good student, boy scout, church member, and just an all around good hearted teenager. So please, don't judge him because of what you read or hear from the news, God knows, it's not always the truth that is put into print.

[Nell]

His parents aren't doing there job really well if they thought that thing was a good mentor. His own mother knew he was a freak.

So you are saying this kid Brogan was just innocently going on a field trip with this dude when dude whipped out a gun and started shooting? Really? Kind of hard to believe that.

Maybe he was talked into something by old dude up there. He is only 16, so it is possible. But he isn't innocent by any stretch of the imagination, so don't try to fool yourself into thinking so.

[Valasca]

Damn, how can I be all snotty to TBrooks? Yeah, he's a tard defender, but an articulate one.

[HeatherHabilatory]

Good students, boy scouts, and church members kill people. It happens ... a lot more frequently than you'd think.

[Hellsbells]

Missing Ohio man could be 3rd Craigslist victim

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A man missing since Nov. 13 answered a Craigslist help-wanted ad that police say was actually a deadly scheme that lured people to a nonexistent farm job in southern Ohio so they could be robbed, his family said.
His father called the outlook "pretty grim" and the missing man's son said his father had been murdered. The missing man, who would be the scheme's third known victim, had called the job offer "strange" in a Facebook post.

Two people are in custody, but law enforcement officials have released few details because of a gag order.

Timothy Kern was promised $300 a week, a trailer and a truck for the job near Caldwell, his father, Jack Kern, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He said his son was excited about the job because of the chance of bettering his life.

In a Facebook post on Nov. 10, Tim Kern wrote: "Just got one of the strangest job offers. A good offer but strange. The job is to watch over 680 acres south of cambridge. Odd jobs and such but mainly just secure it. Trailer, utilities, salary. Drawbacks? No cell phone service, kids are up here, and i have to move this sunday."

Jack Kern, of Massillon, said his son was rarely out of touch and often texted and called family members.

"We're holding hope, but pretty grim, I think," he said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_19391014

[Dakota Valkyrie]

"He knew of nothing": Mother of teen accused in Craigslist murder speaks out

The mom of Brogan Rafferty, Yvette Rafferty, says the adult arrested with her son, 52-year-old Richard Beasley. She also said her family trusted Beasley.

Brogan's mom says she felt he was leading him on a Faith-based christian journey, never dreaming the journey would lead him to Noble County and end in murder. She visited her son over the weekend through thick jailhouse glass.

"He just looked like a scared kid," said Yvette Rafferty.

Yvette was there when detectives came calling last week and questioned Brogan about events in Noble County. What she heard leads her to believe her son was unsuspecting.

"I've known Rich since 2000. He was a friend of ours supposedly," said Yvette Rafferty. "He said he knew nothing of what was going on. But he was along for the ride. He drove him. He drove Rich."

Richard Beasley was what you might call a self-styled storefront preacher. After he got out of prison he began to take ex-cons and drug addicts in at his Akron home. He met Brogan Rafferty at a bible study group and quickly became a mentor.

"Rich to me was Chaplin Rich Beasley. And a friend. A man of God. A man of God," said Yvette Rafferty.

Yvette says Brogan had been getting good grades and in recent months was polite, helpful and caring. Her best advice may have come as he was arrested.

"Me and his dad both we both explained to Brogan that he needs to tell the whole truth no matter what this is not snitching this is you know what is right," said Yvette Rafferty.

http://www.woio.com/story/16092304/m...der-speaks-out

[Hellsbells]

Man's death linked to Craigslist case

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A death certificate indicates a Virginia man was the victim of a deadly scheme that authorities say began with a Craigslist ad for a phony Ohio farm job.

The certificate shows 51-year-old David Pauley of Norfolk died of a gunshot wound to the head and was found in a wooded area along a road in southeast Ohio's Noble County.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_n...raigslist-case

[Hellsbells]

APNewsBreak: 2nd Ohio Craigslist death suspected

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The FBI is investigating whether a body found Friday in a shallow grave in Akron, Ohio, is a second killing connected to a phony Craigslist job ad that authorities say lured victims into a deadly robbery scheme.
The body was found Friday near the Rolling Acres shopping mall in Akron, agency spokeswoman Vicki Anderson told The Associated Press.

The cause of death and identity are under investigation. The FBI is working on the supposition that the body may be that of Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, who hasn't been seen in more than a week.

He answered the same ad for a farm hand that authorities say led to the shooting death of Norfolk, Va., resident David Pauley, 51, in a rural area 90 miles south of Akron. A South Carolina man reported answering the ad but managing to escape after being shot Nov. 6.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_19411333

[Hellsbells]

2 new bodies may be tied to Craigslist ad

Body count at 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The discovery of two new bodies could bring to three the death toll from a Craigslist ad that authorities say lured victims into a robbery scheme.

A body found Friday in a grave near a mall in Akron may be that of a man who answered the ad, the FBI said. A sheriff in a rural county said later Friday that the body of another man without identification was found in a grave about 90 miles away.

The FBI is working on the supposition the body found near the Rolling Acres shopping mall in Akron may be that of Timothy Kern, 47, who hasn't been seen in more than a week, agency spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said.

"Do we think it might be? Maybe," Anderson said. "He's missing. We haven't been able to find him." She declined to specify how the body was discovered.

Kern, of Massillon, answered the same ad for a farmhand that authorities say led to the shooting death of Norfolk, Va., resident David Pauley, 51, in a rural area of Nobel County 90 miles south of Akron. A South Carolina man reported answering the ad and being shot Nov. 6, but he escaped.

Noble County Sheriff Steve Hannum is under a judge's gag order and can't comment on the case, but he sent an email late Friday with the title "second body," implying the discovery was connected with Pauley's death.

Neighbors in the area where Pauley's body was found last week and where the second body was found Friday said police had been in the area and a helicopter had been overhead most of the day.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...slistad26.html

[HeatherHabilatory]

God, how many people did this guy kill?

[Dakota Valkyrie]

As the body count grows, the prime suspect behind the Craigslist killings is professing his innocence and his dismay at the apparent cooperation of his alleged teen accomplice.

On Saturday, Summit County Medical Examiner Dr. Lisa Kohler ruled that the latest victim, Timothy Kern, 47, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
[...]

Richard Beasley, 52, is being held in the Summit County Jail under a $1 million bond. He has not been charged in the killings, but is considered the source of the help-wanted ad and the primary suspect.

His attorney, Rhonda Kotnik, said Saturday that she met with Beasley last week. During their meeting at the jail, the Akron man denied any involvement in the killings.

“He said it’s not him. That’s it. He’s innocent,” she said Saturday.
[...]

Kotnik said it appears Rafferty is speaking with investigators and placing blame on Beasley as detectives build their case. It is unclear what information led authorities to the bodies that were recovered Friday.

Beasley has known Rafferty for years, taking him to church regularly while serving as a mentor.

“He’s just disappointed that the kid is saying things about him,” she said.

After spending 15 years in prison over three different stints in the 1980s and 1990s, Beasley said he became a Christian and a minister of sorts.

Since about 2003, when he returned to Akron, he mentored a number of wayward people, mostly drug offenders.

Over time, he became known by some as “Chaplain Rich.”

He ran a halfway house in Akron, helped deliver food to the poor and regularly appeared before judges, speaking on behalf of defendants and vouching for their change in life.

Police say the halfway house was a front for prostitution.

He was jailed in Summit County from January through July on the prostitution and drug charges until Judge Tammy O’Brien lowered his $2,500 bond to $1,000. A potential parole violation stemming from a Texas conviction in the 1980s for burglary was also dropped, easing his release while he awaited trial.

But Beasley never appeared for subsequent hearings and was on the run, authorities said.

In early October, the Craigslist ad appeared for the first time. An untold number of people responded. Some interviews were conducted at Chapel Hill Mall.

Police believe Beasley was sizing up targets during the interviews. Family members say Beasley frequently visited Noble County, where a longtime friend owns property in Caldwell.

“That just doesn’t sound like Richard,” his mother, Carol Beasley, 70, said after his arrest. “Honestly, I don’t know how he got into all of this.”

A gag order was issued two weeks ago by a Noble County judge, and the county sheriff has interpreted the ruling as a ban on releasing details of the investigation.

Rafferty’s parents, however, have said their son has talked to detectives. The teen also told his family that he did not directly witness any shooting. However, after one event — the Davis shooting — Beasley allegedly returned out of breath and “distraught” after meeting with the man.

The divorced parents, Yvette and Michael Rafferty, said in previous interviews that they believe their son was threatened by Beasley, who mentored the teen for nearly 10 years through their church, The Chapel in Akron.

http://www.ohio.com/news/prime-craig...ities-1.247529

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Federal authorities are accusing Craigslist shooting suspect Richard Beasley of kidnapping and wire fraud as their investigation into three slayings grows.

The new charges, announced Thursday, prompted a Summit County Common Pleas judge to order the Akron man to remain jailed without bond.

Beasley, 52, was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair by sheriff’s deputies for a pretrial hearing on an unrelated drug trafficking case. Dressed in black-and-white striped jail garb and loafers, Beasley kept his head bowed and his hands folded on his lap. He said nothing during the brief appearance.
[...]

In a handwritten letter to the Beacon Journal, Beasley also took issue with his portrayal by friends as a Christian “con man” who used his position as a chaplain and halfway house operator as a front for prostitution and drug dealing.

“ ... to call me a con man when I sacrificed for others is wrong,” Beasley wrote. “To turn their back on me is not following Christ’s example. I gave three full years of my life to that ministry and what I got out of it was the satisfaction of doing the right thing.

“There was no ‘con’ to it.”

His attorney, Rhonda Kotnik, said Beasley told his mother during a telephone call this week that he believes he suffered stroke-like symptoms. The gray-haired, 300-pound Beasley normally walks with a cane because of a back injury, but he told deputies he was unsteady on his feet before his court appearance.

A contingent of deputies and reporters encircled the courtroom as Beasley was taken in by wheelchair for his first public appearance since his Nov. 16 arrest, which came just days after the first body was recovered in a grave near Caldwell.

Beasley’s head bobbed up and down slowly as attorneys talked with Judge Tammy O’Brien. In addition to the drug trafficking case, Beasley is facing a multicount indictment on prostitution charges. Akron police vice detectives contend his Yale Street halfway house was a ruse to allow prostitution.

Assistant Prosecutor Jay Cole said Beasley is a suspect in a “very violent crime” and he asked the judge to revoke the defendant’s $1 million bond. He also said there a detainer on Beasley from Ohio and Texas, but he did not mention any connection to the Craigslist shootings.

Jail records show an FBI detainer has been placed on Beasley since he first entered the jail on Nov. 16. Kotnik said the federal charges allege kidnapping and wire fraud stemming from the Craigslist shootings.
[...]

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/...urnal-1.248242

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Authorities on Saturday identified an Akron man as the third homicide victim connected to the Craigslist shooting case.

Ralph H. Geiger, 56, died of a gunshot wound to the head. His body was found Nov. 25 in Noble County.

“Recent events of an ongoing investigation led authorities to Mr. Geiger’s grave site,” Noble County Sheriff Stephen Hannum said in a news release.
[...]

Geiger’s body was found on the same day authorities recovered the body of Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon. Kern, who had been shot multiple times, was found in a wooded area near the former Rolling Acres Mall in Akron.
[...]

It is unclear if the Craigslist ruse, which authorities initially said appeared to begin in early October, was used to lure Geiger in August.
[...]

Geiger lived in the Haven of Rest shelter in Akron for much of 2011. He moved in the first week of February and left Aug. 8. He told workers he was taking a job on a farm in Dover.
[...]

Beasley is being held without bond at the Summit County Jail on unrelated drug-trafficking and prostitution charges.

Authorities contend that while Beasley was on the lam after failing to appear in court following his release from jail in July, he concocted the Craigslist ad. The help-wanted posting sought someone to oversee a 688-acre ranch in Noble County.

The victims have all been unmarried middle-aged white men with little money.

Authorities believe Beasley and Rafferty attacked three of the victims near the supposed ranch site in rural Stock Township. Two wound up buried in shallow graves. Davis survived being shot in the elbow on Nov. 6 and hiding on the property for seven hours.

A follow-up investigation led authorities to Pauley’s body and eventually — through computer forensic work — to Beasley and Rafferty.

After the arrest of Beasley and Rafferty, the bodies of Geiger and Kern were recovered.

http://www.ohio.com/news/akron-man-i...ictim-1.248539

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A 16-year-old Stow boy charged with murder involving men who responded to job postings on Craigslist believes God will spare him from decades behind bars.

The boy, whom The Plain Dealer is not naming because of his age, wrote to his father last month expressing his hopes and fears. His father shared a copy of the handwritten letter with The Plain Dealer at a reporter's request.

"There's a chance I might be out by the time I'm 42," the boy wrote. "I know there is no way in hell that any kind of God would do that to me."

The boy, a junior at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, is charged in Noble County with aggravated murder and attempted murder.
[...]

The teen doesn't address the charges against him in the letter, but he did apologize to his father for putting him in "this position" and said he hoped his father could forgive him.

He also assured his father that he is OK. Jailers, he wrote, put him in solitary confinement and he passed the time by exercising and reading. The teen said he had already finished "Treasure Island" and "Robin Hood."

But the thought of spending the next 26 years in prison was clearly on his mind.

If that happens, the boy wrote, "all my meaningful family members would be dead."

His aunts and uncles, his grandmother and his pets would be gone, the teen wrote, adding that his parents would be dead or dying.

"I think about this and know that there is no way God would do that to me," he wrote. "Something will happen between now and then."

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011...glist_kil.html

[TheMorningStar]

Brogan Rafferty had been charged as a juvenile with the attempted murder of Scott Davis and the murder of David Pauley and will now be tried as an adult, Noble County Judge John Nau ruled. Nau set bail for Rafferty at $1 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7BE1U820111215

[Whisper]

Ohio man pleads not guilty in Craigslist job ad killings

CNN) -- The accused trigger man in the slayings of three men who answered a Craigslist ad for work on a cattle farm pleaded not guilty Wednesday, officials in Ohio said.

The reading of the 28-page indictment against Richard Beasley, 52, took nearly an hour, said April Wiesner, director of communications for the Summit County prosecutor's office. An attorney entered the plea on behalf of Beasley, who appeared via a video link.

Beasley faces multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery as well as a host of other charges, according to indictment.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for February 8.

Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron, Ohio; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Virginia; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, Ohio; were found dead in separate shallow graves after they responded to an online ad soliciting workers between August and November of last year, authorities have said.

Ohio prosecutors are asking that a teenager be tried as an adult in connection with the three killings and the wounding of a fourth man.

Brogan Rafferty, 17, of Stow, Ohio, had a preliminary hearing Monday. A probable cause hearing on whether to bind him over to adult court has not been scheduled, Wiesner said.

The high school sophomore is charged with three counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder, and robbery and kidnapping, according to Wiesner.

Rafferty has entered a not guilty plea.

His father, Michael, told Cleveland affiliate WJW in late November that his son had been "manipulated" and "corrupted," insisting that the teenager is a "mild-mannered gentleman."

The father also said that his son unwittingly dug the graves at Beasley's direction, WJW reported.

The indictment calls Beasley the "principal offender" in the killings, Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said.

He could be eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted, because the killings appear to meet one or more requirements for that sentence, including purposely causing the death of two or more people and murdering people while a fugitive, committing a kidnapping and/or committing armed robbery. Prosecutors said they would pursue the death penalty if there were an aggravated murder
[...]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/25/justic...RSS%3A+U.S.%29

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Prosecutors in the aggravated murder trial of Brogan Rafferty began their case Friday morning by calling the Stow teenager an able student.

“He’s a student in the art of robbery, deception and murder,” a special prosecutor, Emily Pelphrey of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, told a Summit County jury in the government’s opening statement.
[...]

Pelphrey called Rafferty a willing participant in the slayings and the attempted murder, describing him as “the other half of the criminal enterprise” with an older man, his mentor, Richard Beasley of Akron.

Cell-phone records, Pelphrey noted, will place Beasley and Rafferty in “close proximity to the victims.”

The slayings occurred over a four-month period, between August and November 2011, Pelphrey said.

All four men, down on their luck, were “looking for the light at the end of the tunnel” by answering the Craigslist ads, she said.

The job supposedly was on 600-plus acres and paid $300 per week with a two-bedroom trailer.

“They all thought their luck was about to change,” Pelphrey said.
[...]

John Alexander Jr., Rafferty’s lead defense counsel, was next in opening statements.

He began by standing in front of the jury box, stressing to the panel that Rafferty was only 16 when the Craigslist crimes occurred.

Alexander said Rafferty came from a broken home and, when he was only 7 years old, Beasley “entered his life” as his confidant and inspirational spiritual adviser.

But Beasley, Alexander stressed, “was the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

Rafferty had “absolutely no idea how dark the man was,” Alexander said.

In the final months of the 10-year relationship between Beasley and Rafferty, he said, Beasley became the teen’s mentor, then a compelling force to make Rafferty act as he did.

If he did not do Beasley’s bidding, Alexander said, Rafferty feared Beasley would kill the teen’s mother and sister.

“This was a period of horror for over four months,” Alexander said.

He told the jury flatly that Rafferty’s defense, under Ohio law, would be that he acted under duress.

And an independent psychologist will testify, in fact, “that [Rafferty] didn’t voluntarily do any of this,” Alexander said.

The surviving victim also testified http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/...-case-1.341404

[Dakota Valkyrie]

After three days of testimony, jurors in the murder trial of Brogan Rafferty have found the teenager guilty in murders of three men and the attempted murder of another.

Rafferty, 17, is the first of two defendants to stand trial. The second is his mentor 53 year old, Richard Beasley.

Authorities say victims of the scheme answered a Craigslist ad for work at a non-existent cattle ranch, south of Akron. There the victims were robbed and killed. The teen told police that he was “ordered” to dig a grave for one of the victims.

Rafferty could face life in prison. He will be sentenced on Monday.

http://wtvr.com/2012/10/31/teen-in-c...-found-guilty/

[VXIII]

I would like to know wtf would pay Richard Beastley for sex.

[TheMorningStar]

A teenager was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance for parole for his role in a deadly plot to lure men desperate for work with phony Craigslist job offers.Judge Lynne Callahan sentenced 17-year-old Brogan Rafferty in Akron. He was convicted of aggravated murder and attempted murder in the deaths of three men and wounding of a fourth.
The sentencing was delayed from Monday amid talks on a deal for leniency in return for Rafferty's testimony against the alleged triggerman. Rafferty was looking to avoid a life sentence without hope of parole.
The jury rejected the defense claim that Rafferty feared for himself and his family if he didn't cooperate with his co-defendant, Richard Beasley of Akron.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/texas/...ot-4022256.php

[Whisper]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/justic...html?hpt=ju_c2